September 2, 2011

Saturday, 2 September 1911

Amundsen

Temperatures hovered around fifty degrees of frost.

"After dinner," wrote Hassel, "the Chief raised the question of whether we should start on Saturday or wait until Monday. Himself, he was certainly anxious to get away on Saturday. He (oddly enough) took a poll, four were for Saturday, 4 were for Sunday [sic]. So it was still a draw. It was decided therefore to flip a coin. This settled the start for Monday the 4th September. -- This, that departure was Monday, not Saturday, suited everyone all right. It turned out that everyone, even the boss, had some essential things to do with their personal equipment." [1]

Amundsen himself took the opportunity to alter the sleeves of his under-anorak.

Notes

[1] Sverre Hassel, diary, 3 September, 1911, published as Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 1997), p.5. Presumably Hassel is writing a little after the fact, as he talks on Sunday the 3rd of possibly departing on Saturday, that is, the 2nd.

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About this page

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Amundsen and Scott expeditions to the South Pole.

Scott's route

Amundsen's route

A Note on Dates

When the Fram crossed the International Date Line on the way South, Amundsen did not drop a day from his calendar. The Norwegian diaries from mid-January 1911 to late January 1912 thus were on "Framheim time", dated one day later than they should have been: that is, according to Greenwich Mean Time instead of local time. Amundsen noted this specifically in his entry for the Pole itself, headed "Friday 15 December (really 14th)". No little confusion arises in published sources as a result, and doubtless a number of inconsistencies appear on this page. (See the entry for 10 January 1911 for further information.)

Dates are here adjusted to one day earlier than written in the Norwegian diaries, for entries between 10 January 1911 and late January 1912. Bibliographic citations are as in the published sources.